, fi6 CASSELL'S POPULAR NATURAL HISTORY. 



said to perform with .nival dexterity. Of these claws the middle three are much larger than the lateral, 

 and tli>' interim! one is placed far behind the others. On the hind feet the claws, also live in number, 

 are of nearly equal length, but lire much shorter, and proportionably much less powerful than those of 

 the anterior members. The total length of the animal i.s about three feet, of which its tail forms little 

 more than a sixth. Its height does not exceed ten or twelve inches, and the length of its fore claws, 

 when not worn down by constant use, is about an inch and a half. 



According to Span-man, the bees furnish the ratel with its principal, if not its only means of 

 subsistence. These insects are accustomed to take up their abode in holes in the earth, formed by 

 various burrowing animals, and the ratel is endowed with peculiar sagacity for discovering their 

 nests, which it undermines with its powerful claws, in order to feast on the honey contained in 

 them. 



Aware that sun-set is the period at which the bees return to their homes, it chooses that time 

 for making its observations, which are conducted in a very curious manner. Seated on the 

 ground, with one of its paws raised so as to shade from its eyes the rays of the declining sun, it 

 jieers cautiously on either side of this singular kind of parasol, until it perceives a number of 

 bees flying in the same direction. These it carefully marks, and follows in their ti-ack till it has 

 safely lodged them in their iie.st, which it immediately commences pillaging. But if it should 

 happen that, contrary to their iisual custom, they have built in the hollow of a tree, the ratel being 

 unable to climb, and angry at its disappointment, wreaks its vengeance on the senseless stock by 

 biting around it ; and the Hottentots know well that such marks on the trunk of a tree are certain 

 indications of a bees' nest being contained within it. 



In attacking an angry swarm the toughness of the ratel' s hide must be a most effectual defence ; 

 and it is even stated that so difficult is it to penetrate its skin, that a pack of dogs, which would be 

 sufficient to dispatch a moderate-sized lion, have sometimes failed in their attack on so comparatively 

 insignificant an animal. Such is its tenacity of life, that Mr. Barrow states that " it is a species of 

 amusement for the South African farmers to run knives through different parts of its body, without 

 being able for a length of time to deprive it of existence." Major Denham was, however, informed 

 by the natives of Central Africa, where it is also found, that a single blow on the nose is sufficient to 

 destroy it almost instantaneously, which may probably be owing to the thinness of that part of the 

 skull. In the same regions it has obtained credit for so much ferocity, as to be said, at certain seasons, 

 to venture singly to attack a man. 



THE INDIAN RATEL. 



GENERAL HARDWICKE states that the Ratel is found in several parts of India, in the high banks 

 bordering the Ganges and the Jumna, from which it rarely issues by day, but prowls at night around 

 the habitations of the Mohammedan natives, scratching up the recently-buried bodies of the dead, 

 unless their graves are protected by thorn}' bushes placed over them for the purpose. It burrows with 

 such celerity that it will work itself under cover in the hardest ground in the space of ten minutes. 



The natives sometimes dig them out pf their holes and take them alive ; the old ones, however 

 are witli difficulty secured, and seldom liye long in captivity. The young, on the contrary, are very 

 manageable, docile, and playful. Their general food is flesh in any state, but birds and living rats 

 apiK-ar to be peculiarly acceptable. They are fond of climbing, but perform this operation in a 

 clumsy manner, although they will ramble securely along every arm of a branching tree, provided it 

 is sufficiently strong to bear their weight. They sleep much during the day, but become watchful at 

 night, and manifest their uneasiness by a hoarse call or bark proceeding from their throat. 



\ r.itcl sent from .Madras was, some years ago, in the Zoological Gardens. It appeared, with 

 re-;, v d to man, at, least, one of the most playful and good-tempered of beasts, soliciting the attention 

 .) almost every visiW ^jy throwing its clumsy body into a variety of antic postures, and, when noticed, 

 aunbling over head and heels with every symptom of delight. But towards animals it exhibited no 



* Mellivora Indies. . x 



